A microwave oven is an apparatus for thawing or heating food by using microwaves. A general structure of the microwave oven is illustrated in FIG. 1. Hereinafter, the microwave will be described in more detail referring to FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional microwave oven includes a cooking chamber 20, component chamber 30, electric components provided in the component chamber, and a housing 10.
The cooking chamber 20 is a cavity for accommodating food therein, and having an opened front for inserting or withdrawing the food. In the cooking chamber 20, a tray 15 is rotatably provided, and a door 11 is provided for opening and closing the cooking chamber 20 in front of the cooking chamber 20.
The component chamber 30 is provided adjacent to the cooking chamber 20, and electric components such as a magnetron 31 and a transformer 32 are provided thereto for irradiating the microwaves into the cooking chamber 20. At the component chamber 30, a fan 33 is provided in the cooking chamber 20 for cooling the electric components or for forming air circulation currents in the cooking chamber 20.
Meanwhile, the housing 10 is provided to cover the cooking chamber 20 and an outside of the component chamber 30 as illustrated in FIG. 1. When the microwave oven is operated after food is put on the tray 15, the tray 15 is rotated. Simultaneously, the microwaves generated in the magnetron 31 are irradiated into the cooking chamber 20.
The microwave thaws or heats the food on the tray 15 by vibrating water molecule in the food. In this case, the tray 15 is rotated, and thus the food is thoroughly and uniformly heated.
The microwave oven with the abovementioned function has an advantage of safely and quickly cooking the food. Although there is the above-mentioned advantage, there is a disadvantage that it is not possible to cook various kinds of food. For example, coffee modern people enjoys is not brewed through the microwave oven, and a separate coffee maker is used for brewing coffee.
In the meantime, recently, living space becomes smaller and consumers tend to prefer to practical products. Accordingly, various necessities are becoming smaller together with the electric appliance, and products performing not only a traditional function but also various functions are requested by consumers. However, the customers are not satisfied with such conventional microwave oven.